The Year 2000 Challenge
North Korea Rejects Help on Y2K Problem,
Raising Fears of Accidental Missile Launch
By JANE L. LEE
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
April 28, 1999

SEOUL, South Korea -- The U.S. and South Korea offered to help communist North Korea solve any year-2000 problems it might have in its military equipment. But Pyongyang turned them down, raising fears that, in a worst-case scenario, a computer glitch could lead to a missile attack.

The top concern of U.S. and South Korean military officials is that the millennium bug could disrupt North Korea's defense systems. A North Korean early-warning radar system affected by so-called Y2K problems could mistakenly show an object flying toward the North, leading Pyongyang to fire at the South, according to a top South Korean government official who asked not to be named.

He said another scenario that worries military officials is that after the calendar flips to Jan. 1, 2000, Pyongyang could initiate a missile attack and blame it on computer defects that it may or may not have.

North Korea's neighbors have been especially wary after Pyongyang launched a missile last August that passed over Japanese territory.

Old Systems?

Some officials argue that the Y2K problem -- the result of computers unable to recognize the year 2000 -- probably won't affect the North Korean military. They speculate that the North's weapon systems are too old and poorly computerized to suffer from the millennium bug.

"If you're a caveman, you don't have Y2K problems," said a Western diplomat who follows North Korea closely. "They have weapons systems that are so old that they were created before computers."

These officials particularly play down the chances that a missile could be fired accidentally. Military specialists said most missiles aren't Y2K-sensitive, unless they already are set to be launched at a specific time. Doug Richardson, editor of Jane's Missiles & Rockets, goes a step further. He doesn't think North Korea's radar system is a problem either because its operation also depends more on humans than computers.

Nevertheless, U.S. and South Korean military officials feel they can't take any chances. In February, and again last month, South Korean Brig. Gen. Keum Kiyoun offered to help the North root out any potential Y2K problems; the overture was made at the United Nations Command general officer-level talks in the border village of Panmunjom.

At first, the North's representatives appeared to have little understanding of the issue, said the South Korean government official. To demonstrate the seriousness of the Y2K problem, he said, the South Koreans used simple examples of how electricity supply could get cut and airlines could have trouble booking tickets once 2000 arrived. The South suggested it send Y2K specialists to the North, and the U.S. said it would support this effort.

'Abnormal Way of Thinking'

But offers of help have offended the North. Pyongyang's mouthpiece, the Korean Central News Agency, wrote an article last month headlined, "It is South Korea that has a millennium problem." The article stated, "This is nothing but a scream of those who are extremely terrified at the self-defensive forces of the North powerful enough to destroy any formidable enemy at one stroke," it said, adding, "This only betrays their mental derangement caused by an abnormal way of thinking."

The South Korean government official said he hopes North Korea either doesn't have a Y2K problem or knows how to fix it, but the uncertainty of the situation continues to unnerve the hermit kingdom's neighbors.

"They [the North Koreans] haven't asked for anyone's help, and like a lot of other North Korea issues, you end up speculating more than you have facts," said the Western diplomat.

For its own part, South Korea said its military will be free of Y2K bugs by the end of June.

Copyright c 1999 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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